Marriott East readersâ€™ favorite for landmark

The Marriott East Hotel at 525 Lexington Ave. is the East Midtown building our readers would most like to see named a landmark.

We invited readers a few weeks ago to weigh in with their views of the eight properties the Landmarks Preservation Commission is considering for designation.

Reader James Korth spoke for those skeptical of the whole process. "Midtown is not for landmarks . . . I vote to bring all of them down."

"Lexington Avenue has always had a little of that Eighth Avenue feel, i.e., a little cheesy and kind of sleazy. Knock 'em down, I say."

Sean Hennessey, CEO of hospitality industry advisory firm Lodging Advisors, said the Marriott East should make the cut. The former Shelton Towers designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon and now owned by a Morgan Stanley fund, although "not that special" architecturally, "was the tallest hotel in the world when it was built," he noted.

The 1924 structure pioneered the use of setbacks encouraged under 1916 zoning. It was also where the great photographer Alfred Stieglitz and his painter wife, Georgia O'Keeffe, once lived.

Hennessey also noted the "Castellano-like mystery involving former owner Biff Halloran's mob ties and subsequent disappearance." In the 1980s, Halloran, who named the hotel for himself and was implicated in a concrete price-fixing scheme, vanished without a trace.

Cushman & Wakefield EVP Robert F. Ballard, who commented on all eight candidates in detail, not only wants to see the Marriott East landmarked, he proposed "removing the entrance canopy, reverting its name and cleaning it" to "reaffirm its legacy."

Ballard also endorsed designating York & Sawyer's 125 Park Ave. and Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie DuBois' 270 Park Ave., the 52-story JP Morgan Chase tower. The latter "would be representative of its place in the history of the avenue," he wrote.

But he was dismissive of the other five. Of the Graybar Building, he said the tower's impressive lower-floors facade "could be included in a [new] soaring, modern rectangular tower."

Gregg Barkley also wants to preserve the Marriott East — "Being first in an important area of technology is something worth preserving."

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Marriott East readersâ€™ favorite for landmark

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